39 people killed in Southern Darfur including women and children due to shelling: Medical source

At least 39 people were killed in the city of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, due to the shelling that struck civilian homes amid the ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces for over four months, according to eyewitnesses and a medical source reported by AFP on Tuesday.

Sources reported that "shelling on civilian homes in the Al-Sikka Al-Hadid neighborhood of Nyala resulted in the death of 39 people, mostly women and children... including a family where all its members were killed."

Sudanese human rights activist Ahmed Gouja described the events in Nyala on his account on "X" as a "massacre... 39 children, women, and men were killed in a few moments."

Nyala is one of the cities most affected by the conflict in the Darfur region in the western part of the country, where a quarter of Sudan's population of about 48 million resides.

Last week, the Sudanese army announced the death of the commander of the Infantry Division in Nyala. The United Nations also reported that the intensity of clashes in Nyala since August 11th resulted in "60 fatalities, 250 injured, and 50,000 displaced."

A power struggle has been ongoing in Sudan since April 15th between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, resulting in the deaths of around 5,000 people so far, according to the non-governmental organization ACLED.

Moreover, the conflict has forced over 4.6 million people to flee, according to the United Nations' figures.

On Tuesday, al-Burhan arrived at Alamein Airport in Egypt, where discussions with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi are scheduled to address the developments in Sudan and the bilateral relations, as stated in a statement by the Sovereign Council. This marks the first instance of al-Burhan leaving Sudan since the onset of intense battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.



AFP